Uber to pay $1.9m for sexual harassment claims

Uber is close to reaching a final settlement relating to several sexual harassment and discrimination claims.

The firm will pay $1.9m (£1.5m) to 56 current and former workers who claim they were victims of sexual harassment, or about $34,000 each.

They will also get nearly $11,000 each as part of a class action involving 485 people who claimed discrimination.

The details on claimant numbers were contained in court documents first reported by Bloomberg.

The payouts will be part of the ride-hailing company's total settlement of $10m agreed in March.

The US-based class action case is being led by two Latina engineers who allege they were paid less than their white, Asian and male colleagues.

The pair filed their legal claim against Uber in October 2017, claiming they suffered harassment and a hostile work environment due to their gender and ethnicity.

However, before the payouts can be made the settlement needs to get court approval and members of the class action have a right to object.

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No one has objected and only two people have dropped out of the process.

Uber said it agreed with the plaintiff's motion, and that the amounts it would have to pay out were "fair, reasonable, and adequate".

Jahan Sagafi, a lawyer who negotiated the settlement on behalf of the employees, said his legal firm was "happy that the settlement approval process is progressing as planned".

"So [once it is approved] we can pay class members for these discrimination and harassment claims and begin the three-year effort to monitor Uber's implementation of the HR improvements," he added.

In addition to the legal case, Uber is being investigated by US authorities for gender discrimination.

Last month, Uber's head of human resources Liane Hornsey resigned following an internal investigation into how she handled racial discrimination claims within the company.

A hearing to make final approval of the settlement is due to be heard by a California court in November.

The harassment and discrimination claims are among a string of issues that Uber's management has faced in the past year.

While some of the company's issues have been resolved, they include losing its licence to operate in London and a lawsuit in the US filed by a woman who accused Uber executives of improperly obtaining her medical records after she was raped by a driver in India.